Do you remember your first love? How did you feel at night, unable to sleep because of the unbalanced ratio of infatuation-induced adrenaline to blood? The feeling of the pedal shuddering against the soles of your toes as you start your first clumsy car? The years between thirteen and nineteen are filled with acne, first loves, difficult crowds at school, and first tastes of freedom. The concerns and passions of this period of life are well expressed through tones, perspectives and a myriad of literary devices in Tony Hoagland's "History of Desire" and Audre Lorde's "Hanging Fire." Although these two poems share the same themes, Hoagland's poem returns to this era, while Lorde's poem is still entangled in these adolescent struggles. Both poems are unrhymed and have informal structures that, intentionally or not, fit the ever-changing mood very well. of adolescence. For example, villanelle formal structure and iambic rhythm are left out because they are organized and premeditated, two adjectives that do not describe the typical life of a teenager. If we could turn these years into paper and ink, it would look like “History of Desire” and “Suspended Fire”; they are messy enough to show angst and neat enough to show hope for adulthood. This is why these poems are both grouped into stanzas. “The History of Desire” is grouped into ten stanzas of four lines, followed by a final couplet. “Hanging Fire” is constructed from three stanzas; eleven, twelve and twelve lines respectively. Both "History of Desire" and "Hanging Fire" reflect old loves and are tales of being seventeen and fourteen years old. Therefore, these qualities are deliberately included to convey the distracted and unconstructed life of a middle of paper......the characteristics of Tony Hoagland's "History of Desire" and Audre Lorde's "Hanging Fire" are compared and contrasted. Although these two poets have very different tones and other idiosyncrasies, they share the same theme of youthful love and adolescent struggles.Works Cited1. “Audre Lorde (1934-1992).” Literary criticism of the 20th century. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Flight. 173. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2006. 36-148. Online literary criticism. Gale of wind. . November 14, 20112. “Audre Lorde (1934-).” Contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler, Laurie DiMauro and Sean R. Pollock. Flight. 71. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. 230-264. Online literary criticism. Gale of wind. . November 16 2011